This drawing is a parody of Michelangelo's Barge of Charon painting in the Sistine Chapel. In Greek mythology, Charon transported the souls of the dead across the Acheron River ("river of woe") to the underworld. He would only carry those who had been buried with the proper burial rites, and who had a coin to pay for their passage. Thus, it was the custom in ancient Greece to bury people with a coin in their mouth.